New containership deliveries hit record 285,000 teu in June

The record 285,000 teu of new containership capacity delivered in June is actually lower than the 400,000 teu range that Alphaliner had originally expected due to a mix of labour shortages in Asian shipyards and deliveries being pushed back due to the sluggish cargo market.

To put the volumes of new deliveries in perspective the 285,000 teu in June was just shy of the world’s 12^th largest container line Pacific International Lines (PIL) entire fleet which stands at 297,133 teu, or higher than the typical quarterly delivery volume from 2019 – 2022.

Accounting for over one-third of the newbuild deliveries in June was the world’s largest container line MSC adding some 111,474 teu of capacity. MSC, which is growing rapidly with both newbuildings and secondhand ships, now has a fleet of 5.13 million teu putting in 985,000 teu ahead of its nearest rival Maersk at the start of July.

There were deliveries of five megamax boxships in the 24,000 teu range – two for MSC, and one each for OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd, and Ocean Network Express.

The record volume of containership deliveries seen in June looks set to continue in the coming months as the orderbook stands at 7.6 million teu, some 28% of the current fleet on the water.